We were in the midst of the longest single leg of our journey. 3,369kms from Irkutsk to Ekaterinburg. Almost 48 hours with nothing to do but sit on the train. As such we didn't get up early, 11am was fine. At least we think it was 11am we were travelling through 3 different time zones so we were never really sure. More confusingly the train timetable, for stops etc., ran on Moscow time, some 5 hours behind. Or 4. Or 3, depending on where we were. But wake we did after a disappointingly poor sleep on these new, first class beds. Whilst beautifying these new compartments the designers had managed to find something quite difficult to achieve - a way of making the beds more uncomfortable. Harder and narrower. Well done.


After an hour of staring blankly we began to notice the slowly changing scenery. Most of what flashed by was large wood forest with small pockets of snow hanging on. But there were more settlements along with big, dirty industrial sites - very soviet. About this time we were offered lunch. This was tricky as a lot seemed lost in the translation from the menu to our order.


However a lot more was lost in the translation of the recipe into the food that was supposed to be our meal. Salmon with mashed potatoes became unidentified white substance with rice; beef with fried potato was brown bits with mushroom on pasta. Poor. And we'd really quite liked Russian food in Listvyanka. Fortunately we had brought a few supplies of our own to supplement our appetite. God bless Pringles & 2min noodles.


So we had to pass the rest of the day. Fortunately we were prepared to be amused. The power board was loaded with two laptops, iPad, iPhone, camera charger, MP3 player. Kathryn settled down to her laptop and a stoic resistance to ever use the toilet on board. This aversion was largely born of the last long trip where things were different - a stainless steel bowl with a foot pedal that opened the drain onto the tracks.


This could be suitably entertaining or even cathartic, if you were feeling vindictive against the country you were travelling over. Otherwise you could try (vainly, unfortunately) to photograph the results of your efforts as they flashed by the rear window of the train. Things on our current train were more modern. And boring. An aircraft like arrangement complete with ear-popping vacuum. Meanwhile Gavin sat down to write the blog. Somebody has to. Otherwise you'd have to do something else like make a cup of tea, peel a mango or scratch. Now don't go getting ideas, there's reading to be done.

The afternoon hours passed with a few unsatisfying interruptions - a man came selling books & magazines, for some reason they were all in Russian, even Cosmo!; we spent 20 minutes waited for an Obelisk that was described in our guidebook to be beside the tracks and marked the half-way point between Beijing & Moscow, an important milestone. It wasn't there; and perhaps the biggest let down was the absolute absence of 'platform food sellers'. Both our guidebooks made significant reference to the 'babushka mothers' and other hawkers that would, apparently, crowd the train sides at stations selling all & any manner of food stuffs. Both books suggested that you need not bring any food at all as you could support yourselves from these platform providers. Save for a few permanent station kiosks there were none. No 'fresh boiled potato with dill', no home pickled herring, no dangerous smoked sausage. Nothing. In fairness the book did say it could depend on the weather and season but if they're not coming out in 23 degrees blazing sunshine, what are they waiting for?

At the end of the day we did secure 4L beer, a bottle of vodka and a bag of skittles (Skittlebrau, anyone?) for Simon's birthday party. By the time we arrived at 7/8/9pm all in the 'Party Kompartment' were looking weary. They had seen the end of about 10 bottles of vodka in the 30 or so hours since boarding the train and were looking a little worse for it. Nonetheless they offered us a drink and the Russian/Ukrainian duo offered us a lesson in proper drinking. A round of vodka shots began with one local asking one of the British boys if there was something wrong with their hand; this was the cue to pour a round.


Once everyone had a drink a toast was offered. These were usually something international but the local favourite was a Russian expression I wish I could remember - shouldn't have had that vodka. The rough translation was 'Here's to us, and f**k the rest', although more literally "Us, penis the rest". The process of working out the literal translation was a highlight of the night. The other important lesson of the night was that a shot is always followed by 'zakooska', a little bit of food. Any food. But usually bread, meat, biscuits, cheese. This helped soothe the burn and settle the stomach. Any tapas/antipasto platter would serve the purpose perfectly. And so the process would repeat in 5 or 10 minutes. The rate of drinking was very different to what we were used to where you normally have a drink in hand that you sip from over a while. Instead each drink was shared and in between were periods of frivolity whilst the last drink had 'time to work'. It was good. It is to be emulated. We left the boys to it - they still had another night on the train. Tomorrow we get off, and shower, in the Urals, the dividing line of Europe & Asia. Ekaterinburg.